Sat, 31 Dec 2005 11:30:20
Can you spot the RFID “spychip” hyperbole and FUD? *UPDATED*
Originally posted 12/30/2005
I don’t get it. Why is this considered evil and horrible?
Katherine Albrecht put together a fearless photo expos� on the use of RFID tracking chips at Wal-Mart, and on various products like printers and TVs. She goes on to show how customers are electronically frisked on their way out of the store. All of this is “for your protection” of course.
*UPDATE*
Wow. After reading chrisbg99’s comment, I Googled Ms. Albrecht to see what I could see. She’s way out there on this RFID/store privacy thing. She runs CASPIAN:
Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering. You know the grocery cards that many of us volunteer to use? EVIL. Look, I understand if someone doesn’t want the store tracking what they buy. So don’t use the card. Me? I could not possibly care less. That’s a personal choice. I like the programs, I like the savings, I use the cards. That’s my choice.
She’s way, way out there on RFID as well. Against it in every circumstance, which, as this post demonstrates, is often nonsensical and stupid. She’s suckered some good folk into her reality distortion field as well, like the JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, a group of whom I was a member until a coupdl of years ago). She’s got them convinced that the RFID industry will use the devices to track bullets.
*sigh*
Ever see a bullet come out of a wall or a person? It’s not what you see on TV. The odds of an RFID device surviving it are so slim that it would be easy to convince any court to drop any requirement. To further the point...I would actually support RFID tracking embedded in the firearm itself. No different from a serial number except that a serial number can be ground or etched off. Embedded RFID maybe not so much.
Tracking bullets is a waste of time and money. It takes exactly a hundred bucks to buy a Lee or Rockchucker reloading kit. You can cast your own bullets from scrap lead from tire balancing. Trust me...criminals WILL start learning these skills if you start tracking bullets. You will never be able to track a hand-cast bullet made from scrap lead even if the fantasy of an RFID-from-the-manufacturer bullet came true.
Read on to see just what she’s “exposé-ing.”
OH MY GOD WAL-MART IS WATCHING YOU BUY A PRINTER. Apaprently she;s offended that this printer box has a tracking tag on it. This somehow violates her privacy. Or...it tracks inventory. One or the other.
OH MY GOD IT’S SO SMALL WAL-MART IS WATCHING YOU. What seems to offend her is the size of the notification that this printer is electronically tagged with an RFID chip.
OH MY GOD IT’S A 20” TV THAT IS TAGGED CLEARLY WAL-MART IS WATCHING YOU. I’m not sure what the offense here is supposed to be. No one shoplifts 20” televisions off the main floor, so clearly this is for inventory tracking. Somehow that is offensive and wrong?
Why?
HOLY CHRIST WAL-MART IS WATCHING YOU RIGHT FRIGGING NOW COVER YOUR FACE! This is called theft prevention. Maybe Albrecht is pissed that she can’t steal from Wal-Mart as easily as she can steal from other stores? I don’t get her big exposé. What has she exposed, that Wal-Mart is trying to stop thieves and track inventory?
OH. MY. GOD. CALL THE ACLU.
To call this a fearless exposé is hyperbole at best. The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.
Posted by JimK at 11:30 AM on December 31, 2005
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Categories: Technobabble (Technology)
Tags:
Technorati: RFID Gizmodo Katherine Albrecht Wal-mart
Comments:
#2 Posted by Rann Aridorn 
on 12/31 at 12:57 AM -
I loved the bit about how the poor workers are being exposed to radiation, as if the scanners were giant X-ray machines or something. Someone who is both strident AND stupid, doncha love ‘em?
#4 Posted by chrisbg99 on 01/01 at 02:09 AM -
So is that a yes or no? Because I’ve noticed that left-winged types always think they are being somehow oppressed and/or surveilled no matter what the circumstance.
#5 Posted by Sean Galbraith 
on 01/01 at 12:09 PM -
chrisbg99: I think you’ll find the same applies to government paranoid right-wingers as well. Loonies on both side.
As for RFID shopping, don’t want them tracking you? The same system still works.. pay in cash. This way they only know what went out the door, not to whom. For me, I welcome the day when I’ll be able to just load up a cart and walk out the door with my bill being auto-totaled and charged. No more lineups and no more cashiers.
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i went clothes shopping the other day and there were PLASTIC TAGS ON ON THE CLOTHES… i think they were following me.....